2013-14 NHL Season: "We Are North American Scum"

[ninersdd]

It's the second period.

Oh, and Toronto blew a 2-0 lead late in the third to lose in regulation to the Hurricanes. That's

three tonight. Devils mounting a comeback in Ottawa, maybe.

GD that's was a typo by me. I know full well it was in the 2nd still.

[The_Admiral]

And Montreal scores to take the lead with about a minute left! It's a banner night for avoiding three-point games! Also,

KRONWALLED lol

[TorinK92]

And Montreal scores to take the lead with about a minute left! It's a banner night for avoiding three-point games! Also,

KRONWALLED lol

I find that quite fitting that that comes from a Penguins fan site.

[STL FANATIC]

Some may say the theme this season is dangerous boarding penalties.

That's not exactly inaccurate.

But I'd suggest the theme has been offensive players putting themselves in dangerous positions along the boards as frequently as I can ever remember.

The NHL needs to put some kind of onus on the offensive player to avoid those situations. I don't know what that would be. Punishing a player for taking a bad hit feels wrong, but I don't know what else you do.

A fine?

Not every boarding has been a result of that, mind you. But a lot have been.

[ninersdd]

Sharks high win streak to start the season ends for the 2nd straight year on the shootout.

[TorinK92]

I enjoyed Craig Anderdon's performance tonight.

If he didn't make that backwards save or robbed Jagr on the goal line with his paddle, it would have been 4-4 going into OT

[Cujo]

Red Wings 4, Avalanche 2.

And with that loss, the state of Colorado reverts back to not caring about anything but the Broncos.

[TorinK92]

So I just figured out that the conference standings on NHL.com don't count for the wild-card and are therefore practically useless oldie determinG standing, Leaving you no choice but to use the clunky wild card view.

I really don't like that website.

[Funky Bunky]

Hopefully they change the playoff seedings in 3 years or whenever they're going to review it.

[The_Admiral]

If they want to go ahead and review it after one year, that'd be terrif. This is the most unnecessarily complicated playoff system ever.

Blackhawks look really mediocre to start the year but at least they're picking up points. No real hurry. Team's not built to be a top contender anyway.

[Kramerica Industries]

A mediocre team that could easily be 6-1-0 if the skillz competition went a different way a couple of times.

It's going to take an awful ton for me to think that there won't be another Kings/'Hawks WCF this year.

[The_Admiral]

Maybe. Kings are starting even slower than the Hawks. 5 wins, but 3 in the shootout and 1 in overtime. -4 differential. But they'll turn it on when they need to. Hawks-Blues should be a dogfight of a playoff series, and right now I have to say the Blues look better.

So how about the Devils. If they're still circling the drain by Thanksgiving, they might have to dismantle this thing already, if they can be trusted to do it right. Lamoriello is really getting by on reputation at this point. He's had some awful moves and non-moves lately.

[Kramerica Industries]

Just remembered, once again thanks to this wonky playoff system, that the Kings and Blues can't meet in the playoffs until the WCF, so good thing I erased a lot of what I said before I posted that.

OITGDNHL

I'm concerned about Hitchpuck making a deep playoff run. Last year was fun because at least it was two of the very best teams in the league who were there. We don't get that enough anymore.

[STL FANATIC]

Hitchpuck. I assume that's a title for what you considered a trap-like system by the Blues or something because they're good defensively and Hitch coached the trap a decade ago?

The Blues play damn near the same game as the Kings. The Kings, in each of the last two playoff series, had a touch more goaltending, a touch more scoring, and a touch more physicality. But the games are the same.

And the Blues are/should be better in all those aspects this year. I think it's unfair to write them off as boring or not good hockey.

And if I read too much into your statement, my bad.

[Kramerica Industries]

No, you didn't read too much into it. For once, I went pretty straight forward with my belief.

I dunno, St. Louis has a good hockey team, but what I perceive to be an excellent regular season team. My personal belief in any sport with a playoff series is that, in small sample sizes, starpower wins out, and I tend to think St. Louis is a bit short in that department. They'll post 100+ points, they'll be a pain in Chicago's side all season long. But unless they do something crazy like win four or five of five from the 'Hawks (they do play five head-to-heads, right?), I won't favor them in a series against them. Just my personal philosophy, that's all. Take it or leave it (hint: leave it).

[The_Admiral]

1-2-2 is zone defense, but not the same as the NZT, nor is it the shot-blocks-and-prayers system Tortorella and Tippett live and die by. The Blues will actively try to take you off the puck in their own end, whereas the Coyotes will just wait for a shot to bounce off a supine Rob Klinkhammer and set up a transition that way.

[STL FANATIC]

No issue with your belief that the Blues might lack enough star power to go deep in the playoffs. I assure you I have the same belief. The Blues need Backes to score (so far he is) and they need young players like Tarasenko and Schwartz to develop into the stars they could be.

But there's no question the biggest hole on the Blues has been and maybe still is a lack of an elite scorer. That's how they can outplay a team like the Kings for most of a series and still lose four straight. If you don't have anybody that can cash in their chances, you're going to struggle to win.

I think there is a chance they'll have enough near-star power and a lot of depth (plus tremendous defense and goaltending) to make the leap this year, but I don't blame you for falling on the other side of the possibility.

I just took issue with the term Hitchpuck because I think a lot of people think he still coaches like this is the late 90s. He's evolved with the game. The Blues may not be a high scoring team, but it's not because Hitchcock's system prevents it. The core of his system remains defense, but as Admiral alludes to, it's an active defense, and the idea is to have a transition game result from that defense.

But again, whether or not they'll have enough finishers to make that transition result in anything, is yet to be seen and a fair and valid concern.

[twi]

Any two teams from differing divisions can meet in the first round. For example if Los Angeles has the highest point total in the west and St Louis is the lowest wildcard they will meet in the first round.

[ninersdd]

So how about the Devils. If they're still circling the drain by Thanksgiving, they might have to dismantle this thing already, if they can be trusted to do it right. Lamoriello is really getting

by on reputation at this point. He's had some awful moves and non-moves lately.

Remember, they still have to surrender a first rounder!

[The_Admiral]

If they finish in the lottery, which we'll Bettmanianly say is not necessarily unlikely, will the league just not give them any ping-pong balls in the first place? Because we'd have a cherry on the OITGDNHL sundae if one day people will look up the 2014 entry draft on wikipedia and see that the first overall was -forfeited pick-.

But yeah, Lamoriello got nothing for Parise, nothing for Clarkson, has to wear the Kovalchuk dead-space dunce cap, gave Ryane Clowe a no-movemente clause, and didn't give up his first round pick when it was SECOND-TO-LAST. Might be time to ride off into the beautiful New Jersey sunset for old Lou.